There has been much discussion recently about which glass to use and just last week, I found mine!Elsewhere I told of my amazement when I tried the "Adelphi" glass in a head to head with a Bugatti Kelch.

I like the Bugatti, I also like what I call the Signatory, which I name thus as most of mine have the "Signatory" IB name on them. But so far, I think I preferred the Glencairn. Mainly because of its solid build and the way it sits in the hand.To be honest, I haven't found much difference between the nosing performance of each of these glasses, although if anything, the slightly larger "Classic Malts" glass is probably the best, but I only have a couple of these in my own drinks cabinet.

But all of that is now history, as they say.

At the Munich whisky festival I came across the glass commissioned by "Adelphi". A very well-renowned IB some of whose bottlings are legendary.

A few asked me to take a picture, so here you go:

1. All glasses together

A slightly better version of the pic.

From left to right:Adelphi, Classic Malts, Bugatti, Signatory (in this case Glenmorangie), Glencairn

You will immediately see that the Adelphi is far and away the largest, it also has a rim which curves slightly outward.The nosing performance of this glass is so good, it is almost incomparable to the others. So far I have allowed a few people in The Arc to use this alongside any other glass of their choice and every time they have been astonished at the difference.

I like the design of that glass. Where can they be purchased? Is the Spiegelau the same size? I may have to get a set to put up against my Glencairn and what you call the "Signatory". Mine has Ardbeg on them. I also remember a stemless glass similar to the Adephi. I found a link here:

Any wine glass will do, buy a bunch of cheap ones, various shapes at your local second hand store. I like the wider ones, like a brandy glass, a good sized wide brandy glass. Simple common sense should tell you that the more surface area you give the liquid the more it will give off. Here try this, put some scotch in a small narrow glass and some in a wide brandy glass and take a sniff of each - if you can't tell the difference start drinking gasoline, your wasting your money on scotch

I like the Glencairn so far as it is the best for juggling a full dram...at least that is what I found out tonight. I have a few others like the stemmed tulip shapes in your pictures, and I get a good smell out of all of them.

If it's good enough for Jim McEwen at Bruichladdict, it's good enough for me. I've tried snifters, glencairn, and a sherry copita - Jim's standard piece of equipment - and for 4.99/glass, the sherry copita is hands down the best performer and the cheapest. All others are merely marketing gimmicks, though the 15 oz snifter did have a different aroma profile. Again snifters 4 for 20$ CND.

I happened upon a set of Marquis by Waterford Crystal vintage young white wine glasses tucked away in my bar today (must have been a never-used wedding gift), and thought they might make for a good nosing glass based on some of the glasses I've seen in this thread. Although they may not be narrow enough at the top. Has anyone used these for tasting whisky?

Edit: After a taste test I'd say that it's much better for nosing than my usual tumbler and I enjoy the added sensation of the concentrated aroma when taking a sip. Although, not a great whisky glass in any case. Too long a stem and too open at the top.

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LagaDrinker wrote:.....I wonder if the lips sloping outwards help to disperse the aroma during nosing so its delivered more widely giving greater depth?

The Riedel whisky snifter were created with its outward sloping rim for tasting rather than nosing. According to Riedel the most important part of assesing whisky is how the spirit is delivered onto the tongue. I think their idea is to evenly distribute the spirit all over the tongue instead of just to the front - or something like that. I'm not very impressed by the riedel glasses though.

Identifying the best whisky glass is as subjective as the contents they're designed to hold. It seems to me that the recent interest in all things whisky becomes a great opportunity for glasswear to jump on the market.For decades we had a tumbler or a brandy glass (for the more enlightened) Now there is a plethora of different specialist whisky glasses!I agree that a properly shaped glass makes a real difference but really, can anyone seriously tell the difference between what seem at first glance to be the same glass?

I always prefer the classic malt glass and I do so for 2 reasons, frist I like it because of the good medium volume (some malts need more, others less volume, but in order to compare you/I need a good compromise) and second it´s almost everywhere available (I don´t like changing glasses).Additional advantages: it´s cheap, stabil and good to handle.

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